PINBALL MANUFACTURERS

Stern Pinball – Zach Sharpe

What impact do you think this will have over the rest of 2020 for Stern? Will things get “back to normal”?

It will take some time to return to normal.  We’d love to see a “snap-back” recovery but think it will be more gradual.  Paraphrasing California’s governor, returning to the conditions that pre-dated the Coronavirus won’t be like flipping a light switch; it’ll be more like turning a dimmer.

How much has this impacted the release schedule for Stern?

To date, it hasn’t.  But if the stay-at-home orders last much longer, it will.

What positive progress have you been able to make with people working remotely?

We’ve become experts overnight in using videoconferencing technology.  Some of our design teams actually admit their productivity has increased – along with their drinking!

In general, what are your thoughts on any long term effects of the current climate on the pinball hobby?

Our home sales have been very strong during these quarantines.  We’re happy to be able to provide fun at home.  Players have also created new ways to hang together and play pinball on-line.  We think that’s great.  In the end, though, humans are social creatures that love to hang out in-person and we don’t think that will change.  Once the stay-at-home orders start to lift and progress is made on treating and curing COVID-19, we expect people will go out with a vengeance.  It’s tough being cooped up!

In the meantime, stay safe and keep on flipping everyone!

Spooky Pinball – Charlie Emery

What impact do you think this will have over the rest of 2020 for Spooky? Will things get “back to normal”?

Right now we’re finishing up the move from the old shop to the new. It’s just the immediate family available to work until we get the all clear from the state of WI, so Kayte, Bug, Squirrel, and Charlie are doing all we can. Things will get back to BETTER than normal once we get the all clear. The new shop is going to be a great step forward to Spooky, and it’s almost complete!

How much has this impacted the release schedule for Spooky?

Every day we don’t have our Minions is obviously another day longer for production, which also puts back future release dates. Nothing we can do until the pandemic calms down and work resumes.

What positive progress have you been able to make with people working remotely?

We’ve always had much of our team working remotely, so code updates and progress on the digital end hasn’t skipped a beat. Scott just released a new update for Total Nuclear Annihilation, and we’re working hard to have Fawzma put out a major update for Alice Cooper’s Nightmare Castle. Eric is making new mode progress on Rick and Morty. Charlie’s Rick and Morty was shipped to Bowen right as the shut down hit so Mr. Kerins can continue to help make RaM and ACNC even better.

In general, what are your thoughts on any long term effects of the current climate on the pinball hobby?

Who knows really… pinball is hard enough without unprecedented world events throwing a curve ball to all of us. All we can do is ride it out and make progress in the new shop so when the workers return they have everything they need to get back on track. We can’t wait to get customers their games so we can all get back to having a few cold beverages and playing pinball with friends again! STAY SAFE EVERBODY!!! We’ll be here and hope to see you all on the other side of this mess. 🙂

American Pinball – Michael Grant

What impact do you think this will have over the rest of 2020 for American Pinball? Will things get “back to normal”?

I suppose we are going to be entering the great unknown whenever we get back to whatever the ‘new normal’ is going to be, but we are incredibly excited here at American Pinball. With the advance reaction to HOT WHEELS™ being as positive as it has been, I really think we are positioned extremely well, but the outside forces are what we cannot forecast. What will be the state of the economy and unemployment? Will people still have discretionary funds to purchase pinball machines? These are questions yet to be answered. But at least here at American Pinball, we remain hopeful and optimistic that our best days are in front of us.

How much has this impacted the release schedule for American Pinball?

We had choreographed what I believe was a very solid introductory plan for Hot Wheels. The unveiling of the prototype at the Amusement Expo International was a way to receive some initial feedback as we were still putting the finishing touches for what was going to be a truly grand introduction at Texas Pinball Festival.

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TPF was going to be the major event for us with ten Hot Wheels machines, as well as a couple of Oktoberfest and Houdinis. We had plans for a pinball tournament in our massive exhibit space, where attendees would have seen and been able to get behind the wheel of two full-size custom Hot Wheels cars. In addition, there was going to be a special play area with Hot Wheels cars and play sets for children, or really everyone to come and play.

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This was going to be followed by having a major presence at MGC just a couple of weeks later. Everything was in full gear with the first shipments ready to begin that second week of April, pending some last approvals by Mattel. By the way, the folks at Mattel have been amazing opening up their vaults for us for the entire first three seasons of their YouTube series HOT WHEELS™ City, die-cast cars and so much more. It has been a very smooth collaborative effort. Additionally, we had been planning out a range of joint promotional activities for the duration of 2020 and into 2021. The times were very exciting and then suddenly everything stopped.

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Hot Wheels was on the production line at the time of the stay-at-home executive order from Illinois Governor J. B. Pritzker, and the Mattel offices also shuttered with all our contacts working remotely. Once the stay-at-home orders are lifted, we will start our engines to make Hot Wheels and American Pinball as successful as possible.

What positive progress have you been able to make with people working remotely?

I think especially for me, personally and professionally, it has given me the time to begin establishing more formal communications with our current dealers and distributors as well owners of American Pinball machines. We are developing a range of strategic marketing plans and programs which we are eager to introduce to the pinball community. There has been this unique time to concentrate on how best to move forward. As for the ongoing status of Hot Wheels, as mentioned earlier, there are still a few elements where we are waiting for that last Mattel blessing but otherwise, the games are ready to go. Admittedly, there have been some modifications from what was seen and played in New Orleans and a few new tricks added only because Josh and Joe had the time to do so.

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It is difficult to not all be in the office together, but we are maintaining our schedules and tasks along with weekly staff meetings and just knowing that soon this will all be behind us.

In general, what are your thoughts on any long term effects of the current climate on the pinball hobby?

This is undoubtedly a trying time for the country and the world at large. At American Pinball, our hearts go out to every person who has been affected by the current conditions, directly or indirectly. Words cannot adequately describe the totality of the losses, but I have little doubt that humanity will adapt, persevere and prosper for the better.

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The foundation of the pinball hobby is its community. We are an eclectic group of people from a wide array of backgrounds, all with but one thing in common: the love of the silverball. I truly believe our innate desire to socialize and interact with one another will endure, and pinball leagues, tournaments and events will continue to be popular. Surely, precautionary measures will be embraced in order to maintain a safe atmosphere for all. There will likely be more attention to sanitation in general— hand sanitizer and disinfecting wipes will be commonplace, and there will probably be few less handshakes and high-fives. But overall, I’m confident the hobby we all love will not only survive but prosper.

Multimorphic – Gerry Stellenberg

What impact do you think this will have over the rest of 2020 for Multimorphic? Will things get “back to normal”?

It’s hard to know exactly what new challenges we’ll face as things progress, but right now our biggest challenge is building machines and games while also keeping our employees and their families safe.  We solved a lot of supply chain issues leading up to TPF, so we’re not short on parts, but the stay-at-home order means we can’t currently run production at the factory.  So customer shipments of P3s and P3 games will remain slow until things get back to normal.  That said, shipments of our control system boards (P-ROC, P3-ROC, etc) are largely unaffected.  It might take us a few extra days to ship boards right now, but even our largest customers are receiving their orders on schedule.

How much has this impacted the release schedule for Multimorphic?

March 20th was our scheduled release date for Heist, the new flagship game for the P3 Pinball Platform, and that’s the day we revealed it.  What we weren’t able to do was show off Heist (or Cosmic Cart Racing 2.0 or any of our other games) at the Texas Pinball Festival and send people home with new P3s.  That was a big disappointment.  The team worked tirelessly for a long time to meet our release schedule, and they produced something absolutely incredible.  Heist is an amazing game with a great theme; an immersive story and playfield design; fantastic art, music, video content, voice work, and lightshows; and arguably the most impressive mechanical toy ever developed for a pinball game.  We built a bunch of playfields leading up to the reveal, and a couple of early customers even received their playfields that same day.  The entire thing came together just as we hoped, but then we had to show it off through videos, pictures, and streams.  The P3 has always been a machine that people don’t fully appreciate until they play it in person, and we were hoping to go to more shows this year, not fewer.

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All that said, we’ve already shipped a lot of Heist playfields, and reactions have been over-the-top positive.  Also, our dev team hasn’t been slowed down at all by the stay-at-home order.  So Heist, CCR 2.0, and a number of our other titles will continue to improve as time goes on.

What positive progress have you been able to make with people working remotely?

Upper playfield modules for the P3, because they’re designed to slide into the back 3rd of the machine and extend the playability of the base machine, are physically smaller than other games. That means we need a lot less space to work on them. So we’ve actually been able to continue testing and shipping playfields from our homes. We also recently finalized plans to restart our production efforts in ways that fully comply with the stay-at-home order and keep our employees safe. So we’ll soon be able to ship more new P3s and P3 games, albeit than we could before.

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As mentioned above, we’re also continuing to ship our control system products. With more people working from home, we’re seeing a lot of custom pinball developers making good progress on their projects. If you’ve been considering a custom pinball project, now’s a great time to jump in! The #pindev slack channel is a great resource. A bunch of industry insiders and custom machine developers chat daily to help people through their custom projects. Contact us for an invitation to the channel (info@multimorphic.com).

In general, what are your thoughts on any long term effects of the current climate on the pinball hobby?

Economic downturns aren’t all bad for product companies, as long as they have the cash to survive.  It’s a good time to work on improving processes, development environments and product features and to implement things that might otherwise get bumped down the priority list.  It’s also a good time to collaborate in mutually beneficial ways, and I’ve had a lot of really productive talks with other companies over the last few weeks.  This industry is notorious for companies trying to do too much on their own and hurting themselves in the process, but that mindset is starting to change.  Now is a great time to reevaluate who can help you move forward and to work out deals that have long-term benefits for everybody involved.  Long term there will probably be more partnerships and perhaps some consolidation in this industry.  Long term, companies that continue trying to do too many things outside their own expertise will likely struggle, even if they have enough cash to survive the current challenges.

deeproot Pinball – Robert Mueller

What impact do you think this will have over the rest of 2020 for deeproot? Will things get “back to normal”?

It definitely delays. It also complicates re-building supply chain and vendor relationships (who may have experienced the same forcible business closure or effects as we did). It also affects things like: pricing of parts, lead times, and having to re-source some items that might no long be available or cost-effective. I think things will get back to ‘a’ normal. Maybe not the old normal.

How much has this impacted the release schedule for deeproot?

It will delay things. No doubt about it. The complexity and number of specialized parts in a pinball system is the greatest weakness now. One simple miniscule part that we can’t timely obtain could backlog the whole system from being built. We are working under the self-imposed standard of ‘being ready to launch at a moment’s notice’. We will continue to do so.

What positive progress have you been able to make with people working remotely?

We continue to try to work on things remotely that can be accomplished remotely. However, pinball development and setting up and manufacturing tend to be ‘hands-on’ activities. So we are waiting for our regional stay at home orders to be lifted and at-risk employees to get clearance to come back to work.

In general, what are your thoughts on any long term effects of the current climate on the pinball hobby?

There will be short term and long term effects. Sometimes, a fire in the wilderness is a good thing to clean out the old and make ready the new. deeproot isn’t going anywhere. And we have a lot of runway left to deal with theme, innovations, volume, and pricing. That is important, because I am betting that pinball customers (now more than ever before) will be looking for VALUE in every aspect of their purchase. And deeproot has built our platform on VALUE in every aspect of our development process and platform.

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PINBALL CREATORS

Stern Pinball – Greg Freres

How have things been going working remotely? Can you share what you’ve been working on?

Zoomy! The tech of it all (of which I know nothing) is working mostly great although my home internet connection seems a bit cranky now and again. I’ve never had to restart my modem so many times.

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And I’m working on…staying employed. 😉

What have been the biggest challenges you’ve had to face since the stay-at-home orders were put in place?

My routine is slightly different, I seem to stay up later – More streaming I guess. I thankfully recovered from some strain of influenza right around the time the stay at home orders began…I never got tested but the doc said it probably was not Covid 19 since I didn’t experience all the symptoms. When they have the blood test for antibodies available I’ll probably get that just to be sure. My kids are grown and have their own homes but I miss them since we have maintained the social distancing guidelines with them as well. We celebrated my son-in-law’s birthday on ZOOM! I think we’ve all learned about all the things we take for granted – getting together for celebrations, going to concerts, having a fun night of pinball at the barcade! Our new normal will take some getting used to but I’m an optimist and remain hopeful. My wife and I play a lot of Scrabble in the evenings to avoid watching more bad news on TV. And we’re finding it brings out the best in us! 😉 And I need a haircut. All minor inconveniences – most everyone I know is still healthy!

In general, what are your thoughts on any long term effects of the current climate on the pinball hobby?

Again, the optimist in me says this will obviously be a setback in general but recoverable nonetheless. I feel badly for the small business owners in the industry (and others) along with all of their support staff but we will see brighter days ahead as long as well all continue to work together. I’ve fortunately been part of the pinball community for the better part of the last 40 years and this is going to be a challenging recovery but the pinball biz has seen plenty of obstacles before…just keep flippin’! And wash your hands!

American Pinball – Josh Kugler

How have things been going working remotely? Can you share what you’ve been working on?

So, I’m more fortunate than most, as I was able to bring my work home with me, in the form of a Hot Wheels development machine. As you can see in the photo [below] it is a bit of a Frankenstein, with a Oktoberfest prototype cabinet, Houdini armor and a Hot Wheel’s sample playfield and backglass, which is the part that matters.    The not so fun part was getting it into my basement game room by myself.   The poker table is now my desk and I’ve gotten things setup where I can be relatively productive.  Right now I’m pretty focused on finishing up Hot Wheels, and I’m really pleased with where we are with it and looking forward to production resuming.    I’m also carving out a little time to respond to things found in the Houdini beta test that is currently underway. And also spending a little time on ideas and concepts for our next games.  Since Joe Schober is always remote, this is not a change for how he and I work on a daily basis.  And not having Jim Patla camped out in my office all day, is certainly a . . .

What have been the biggest challenges you’ve had to face since the stay-at-home orders were put in place?

I could really use a hair cut, so if anyone knows how to get a no-contact haircut at home, let me know.  Not having other members of the team to shoot the game, while I can watch, creates a bit of a challenge, as it is always helpful to watch others play to spot things that are not quite right or as planned.   So I have been recording game play to be able to better see what areas need attention.  That has also been helpful to other members of the tweak who don’t have a machine to see progress and provide input.   The other challenge is remembering to stop working, day becomes night, night becomes day, weekdays becomes weekends, and back again, and I’m kind tuned out of all of it, I just keep working.  Being focused on the game is certainly helping me stay sane, for now.

In general, what are your thoughts on any long term effects of the current climate on the pinball hobby?

Pinball has managed to survive through many challenges and I have no doubt it will survive this.  I think some folks who have never owned a machine, but relied on location play, and who have thought about buying, may decide this is a good time to be an owner.  I can see others looking to expand their collections to get something new while being stuck at home.  I think with time, more machines changing hands as collectors what that variety. I suspect games that have gathered dust in some collections will get see more play than they have.  I think location and tournament play is going to have a bit of lull, I think it will come back as strong as ever, but none of us know if that is 3, 6, 12 months or more.  Obviously the economic hit for some will be significant and make pinball ownership a luxury they can no longer afford. Hopefully most of the population who have had that big economic impact will bounce back quickly, some may have to find a new path as the world will certainly change as a result of this.  Historically mankind has risen to challenges like this through innovation, teamwork and having a common cause, so I remain hopeful that in a few months our path to some new form of normalcy will come clear.

deeproot Pinball – David Thiel

How have things been going working remotely? Can you share what you’ve been working on?

What have been the biggest challenges you’ve had to face since the stay-at-home orders were put in place?

In general, what are your thoughts on any long term effects of the current climate on the pinball hobby?

In some ways I’m not affected a lot by COVID as I have been running my one person company from home since 2006 so I take my 13 step commute down to my studio and work and stay in complete quarantine.  However the affect on my client has been profound.  So I’ve taken the pause to do some much needed digital audio workstation maintenance adding 10 Tb of storage to my DAW (I  ran out! only had 6Tb).

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While NDA prevents details it is safe to say that I share my time working on five pinball audio packages with the RAZA package being the most compete set of assets. The DR system is the most sophisticated system that I’ve ever worked on and the interaction of the sounds with the rules will be the best I have done in the modern era. COVID is delaying the release of this work and of course that is frustrating.

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My COVID crystal ball is very cloudy.  I don’t see how this can have many positive effects on the industry and the hobby.  Pinball shows, tournaments and pinball operations are public activities of a non-essential nature and when they can resume is anybody’s guess (though I suspect that it will be longer than anybody wants).  How long can manufacturers hold their breath?  I guess we’ll find out.

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I have a sad feeling that I will have a somewhat smaller pool of potential clients when the dust settles.  Pinball creation and manufacturing is such a struggle I really don’t like to see these companies get blindsided by a pandemic.

Stern Pinball – Jeremy Packer

How have things been going working remotely? Can you share what you’ve been working on?

What have been the biggest challenges you’ve had to face since the stay-at-home orders were put in place?

In general, what are your thoughts on any long term effects of the current climate on the pinball hobby?

I think it’s safe to share that I’ve been focusing on Stern Pinball projects for well over a year now…so nothing has really changed for me – I’m still trying to stay on deadlines as if the world was normal.

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The post-covid world is pretty familiar for me. I work from home and for far too many hours in a day and I try to avoid going near strangers when in public. The only change is that my kids are home all day as well, so lunch is a bit more fun for my wife and I thanks to their presence.

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As for the future of the hobby, the one thing I foresee is questions for operators that ride out this storm – especially every flu season from here on out. I’ve yet to hear of a flu vaccine that has eradicated any strain prior – so I don’t expect that’s the endgame here either.  I do, however, fully expect future titles modded with antibiotic foam-dispensing flipper buttons,  plexiglass sneeze guards, and a 6ft spacing arrangement  between pins … hopefully that remains a joke…

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I’m an eternal optimist at heart, so I take everything with a grain of salt and try to keep life in perspective. I’ve watched people I know and love worry incessantly in their lives about things they can’t control. (Myself included.) In the end, it was all wasted focus, energy, and time that they and their loved ones lost celebrating each others presence. I’m not advocating blissful ignorance or avoidance, I only advocate reminding yourself that things can always be worse and always will eventually get better by contrast alone… Oh, and antidepressants. Take those! 😉

thanks – j

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P.S. I think I mosaiced out any NDA stuff on my screens… if not, it was fun working in pinball! 😉

Stern Pinball – Tim Sexton

How have things been going working remotely? Can you share what you’ve been working on?

Things have been about the same as far as a typical workday goes. In early March when it became obvious that the Covid19 situation wasn’t getting any better I spent some time arranging things in my apartment to be able to work at home. Perhaps it is my age but transitioning to working from home was not very difficult. It feels like I’m back in college and I’m spending all my time doing homework in my dorm room again, except this time my homework is programming pinball machines.

What have been the biggest challenges you’ve had to face since the stay-at-home orders were put in place?

The limitations of “the internet” in 2020 have been the biggest challenge. We still live in a world where a lot of our internet communication tools are developed to the point where they can be adopted widely and cheaply, but their effectiveness in replacing the workplace interactions we have is extremely limited. I do miss the constant 50 dB of background noise in the office that naturally traveled through the air. Instead, I now will hear the compressed sounds of a dog barking in a coworker’s neighbor’s apartment coming through a cheap built-in laptop microphone during a zoom call at max volume while 4 people are apologizing for interrupting each other. I assume that anybody working from home at a time like this is also dealing with these same issues.

In general, what are your thoughts on any long term effects of the current climate on the pinball hobby?

The good news is that we were already in an era of pinball where we have really active online communities of enthusiasts and fanatics (like myself) who can’t wait to get back to their locations to play more pinball. They’re keeping each other entertained during this and coming up with interesting ways to continue playing pinball with each other. When the risks from the virus are better under control and understood, the pinball community will certainly be eager to do what they can to get their hobby back to what everyone was used to.

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Obviously we will not be able to fully predict all of the downstream effects of this unprecedented crisis we are all living through together. We do know that safety and health come before pinball, but pinball is a timeless game that will continue to evolve and thrive so long as we’re all still here!

Jersey Jack Pinball – Eric Meunier

How have things been going working remotely? Can you share what you’ve been working on?

There isn’t really much I can say regarding what I’m currently working on, due to the confidentiality of my work.  I am able to work remotely very well though, and am in constant contact with my team.  My personal JJP games, like everyone in our beta software testing group, are capable of receiving updates online.  That expands a lot of what I can do with my software team remotely.  We are using Zoom, Duo, Skype, and even gasp… phone calls! There are new, exciting things happening every day here at JJP.  I’m looking forward to getting back to our office when the Shelter in Place order is over.

What have been the biggest challenges you’ve had to face since the stay-at-home orders were put in place?

The biggest challenges I’ve had to face while working are balancing my work/home balance.  I have two young children, and when daddy is home, it’s play time.  They have a hard time understanding that I have work to do and am unavailable at certain times of the day because, well,  I’m still home.  I am certain that is a problem that many of us parents are experiencing at this time.  I am lucky that my wife and I can take shifts through the day so we are each able to sequester ourselves away to our office, but it never quite feels like I have enough hours in the day.  To that end, most days I am up working into wee hours of the morning, and then back up and ready to go for my kids who wake up at 5:30AM on the dot every. single. day. Walking to get zero-contact coffee pickup is a small luxury for which I am grateful.  

In general, what are your thoughts on any long term effects of the current climate on the pinball hobby?

My thoughts regarding the long-term effects of this on pinball are this: Pinball has ups and downs.  People are now, more than ever, seeking comfort in their own homes, and our games provide an escape that perfectly fills that desire.  Hunting down high scores and never-before experienced wizard modes is an escape that can bring a smile to the face of the whole family in such a trying time.  I love playing pinball with my kids standing on the chair in front of me!  They go crazy when I get excited about the wizard modes or cool stuff that’s happening, and it’s a blast to experience together, regardless of them not being able to do it on their own yet.  From a business perspective, I’m looking forward to the future here at Jersey jack Pinball.  I am grateful to work with the people I do at a company that I have seen grow from the very early stages.

PINBALL DISTRIBUTORS/RESELLERS

PinballSTAR – Joe Newhart

How have sales been since the stay-at-home orders started?

Sales have been actually normal – of course we have people who are not going to buy new games given the economic uncertainty but on the flip side there are people who are looking to add to their collection knowing they need ‘stay at home’ stuff to do with the family!  I think overall with locations / operators shut down and many people affected financially the overall scale will tip towards less sales.  We haven’t had any pre-order cancellations either – for Rick and Morty or Medieval Madness Remake – so that’s a good sign as well.

What have been the biggest challenges you’ve had to face?

Getting product to sell!  The virus hit at a lull in game releases or availability of games to sell if not sold out – nothing new from JJP, nothing new from CG, Spooky’s Rick and Morty sold out so nothing there, AP’s Hot Wheels revealed but not shipping yet, Multimorphic’s Heist revealed but not really shipping yet although they are trying their best building some at home at least, nothing new from Homepin as they move from China to Taiwan…  So essentially the newest games out there have been Willy Wonka and Monster Bash Remake, both of which we have in stock, but they were revealed in 2019, so nothing really fresh… So we are selling through current inventory we are fortunate to have had on hand.

In general, what are your thoughts on any long term effects of the current climate on the pinball hobby?

Long term it really depends on how quickly businesses get up and running again people get employed again, just like the rest of the economy, pinball is going to follow that good or bad.  I don’t forsee any sort of doom and gloom.  I think when new games are revealed there will be excitement – maybe not reckless abandon like usual, but there will be buyers.  Keep in mind the home collector market in a way grew out of and after the financial crash of 2008 so people who aren’t taking vacations or spending money on new cars might look to invest in their pinball collections especially since a nuance of this pandemic is people are stuck at home.  My only fears are if when things open up every single company now releases a new game at the same time – that will create a glut.  Additionally, I think our pinball locations and shows are going to have to take some time for people to get comfortable touching flipper buttons and such – it’s going to be hard to go from wearing a mask and gloves in order to protect yourself while buying essential groceries to feeling ok in public settings repeatedly touching flipper buttons.  The social distancing thing is going to affect that part of the hobby for sure unfortunately.  Let’s hope we come through all that soon and those very important locations, tournaments, and shows who do so much for the hobby we love are able to kick it into high gear again.

TNT Amusements – Todd Tuckey

How have sales been since the stay-at-home orders started?

We had to lay off our full time employees perhaps 3 weeks ago.  I come in 7 days a week and work 12 to 16 hours a day to try to complete the orders we had already.  I am fortunate enough to have some of our regular volunteers that come to assist and work for Breakfast/lunch/and or dinner!  We are a very very small few and of course our output is tiny now.  Most of our old orders are filled now.  We all look forward to when our regular employees come back so we can bring our same restorations to full speed again.

What have been the biggest challenges you’ve had to face?

We have ALWAYS offered one day to 6 month long term rentals of our games for 36 years.  During this virus, all of our events cancelled (weddings, bar mitzvah’s, Prom Parties, Graduation Parties) and we did not get a single long term rental during this virus as it seems other locals are offering machines cheaper than us.

In general, what are your thoughts on any long term effects of the current climate on the pinball hobby?

I think that our business will bounce back pretty quickly…collectors are anxious to get back to their game playing with others, and to get back to the shows!  From the conversations I have had with countless people, that seems to be what I am getting with their feedback.  Everyone wants a return to normalcy!

PINBALL COMPANIES

Pin Stadium Lights – Scott Darren

How have sales been since the stay-at-home orders started?

Things have picked up dramatically and it has been non-stop busy.

What have been the biggest challenges you’ve had to face?

Keeping up with the high volume of orders and production to fill those orders.  Fortunately with around the clock work I have been able to stay ahead of the game.

In general, what are your thoughts on any long term effects of the current climate on the pinball hobby?

From what I am seeing on my end is that collectors are focusing more on their current collection versus adding more machines to it.  Mostly due to the cost and also the halting of production of new machines.  Collectors appear to be taking time out for much needed maintenance and putting this money into making the machines they do own better.  Being that the Pin Stadium pinball mod products completely transforms even the newest of machines, it has proven to be a very viable investment for these collectors that are spending money wisely.  Pin Stadiums are only about 3% of the cost of a new machine and in essence a collector is able to get a “new” machine while saving 97% of their money for other much more necessary items.  

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This has been what I have been seeing and what many collectors have been stating also.  The support for the Pin Stadium pinball mod has been beyond what I could have ever expected during this time.  The good news is that our inventory is very well stocked and we are even shipping “Same Day” on our products.  It has been nice to be able to put a smile on faces during these times.  Thank you all of your loyal support!!!

Marco Specialties – Imoto Harney

How have sales been since the stay-at-home orders started?

The pinball repair community, while obviously impacted, is staying strong. It’s clear folks are continuing to work their games at home.

What have been the biggest challenges you’ve had to face?

We are proud of how our team has come together and made major adjustments and sacrifices to prioritize the safety of everyone in the building. We’ve had to make difficult decisions like transitioning team members not directly shipping orders to work at home, closing our facility to customers, and adjusting our working conditions and scheduling to accommodate recommended sterilization and social distancing practices. We’re proud of our team for taking the initiative to implement these practices before being required to despite the cost and impact to our efficiency. We are continuing to monitor and make adjustments daily.

In general, what are your thoughts on any long term effects of the current climate on the pinball hobby?

Pinball has a great track record of weathering storms and bouncing back. Today’s pinball community is stronger than we have ever seen it, and we are optimistic that the community will carry pinball through these tough times. Times of adversity tend to strengthen communities, so we hope our community will look for and build on the silver linings as we navigate this latest challenge together. Hopefully our community will retain the heightened awareness of the health safety of others, and will build good habits to continue to keep the shared touched surfaces of our games clean when social distancing measures start to lift.

Silverball Swag – William Oetting

How have sales been since the stay-at-home orders started?

Unfortunately, sales of our promoter items have gone down. I believe that is mainly because of the reduced content we are seeing from podcasters. The sale of our non-promoter items have also gone down even though we have added some clearance items from our TPF surplus. So, we are working on some new items and designs during this time.

What have been the biggest challenges you’ve had to face?

Not getting to go to TPF has really hurt us. We purchased quite a few products that we were planning to take and hopefully sell at our booth at TPF. We were hoping to also get a chance to talk to everyone to get a better understanding of what we are doing right and where we need to make improvements. TPF was going to be our chance to build some awareness in our brand and show the quality of our shirts and swag. We have created a clearance section on our website to try to sell off our surplus but that won’t make up for the loss of the brand.

In general, what are your thoughts on any long term effects of the current climate on the pinball hobby?

I think it is pretty obvious that this will definitely hurt the industry/hobby of pinball in the short term. We are seeing locations that have pinball trying to do anything they can to keep their business alive. Not all of those locations will make it through this downturn. That means fewer buyers of machines in the future. This will cause a step back for all pinball manufacturers. It kind of feels like we will have to start over again in our effort to keep pinball alive, but I am sure that the hobby will continue on well into the future.

Titan Pinball – Eric and Heather Smith

How have sales been since the stay-at-home orders started?

Not bad at all. Business is very steady and almost the same. Most of our business is private collectors and they are all trapped at home with their pinball collections. Time to shop those machines! We had one customer tell us this is the first time in 10 years that all of his machines are clean and 100% working.

What have been the biggest challenges you’ve had to face?

Since we only ship USPS the closings, reduced workforce and logistical problems has caused delays. The mail is just super slow right now understandably. Going to the post office everyday is a little worrisome, but I can get in and out of that building in about 14 seconds without touching anything so it should be alright. Other than that, I think we are just lucky that we mainly work from home already and have no employees.

In general, what are your thoughts on any long term effects of the current climate on the pinball hobby?

I don’t really see this affecting the pinball hobby too much as far as commerce, new machines, shows, etc. It’s like everything is just on pause at the moment. I do see maybe an opportunity to introduce some sanitation standards to pinball tournaments after they get going again. We should probably have that anyway, right? This might result in a long-lasting reduction in league play since some people might not be comfortable letting strangers into their home after all this.

Mezel Mods – Kristin Mezel

How have sales been since the stay-at-home orders started?

People have been shopping! It seems all those pent up, ‘I want to fix up XYZ game’ have been unleashed during the outbreak. We are missing that ‘new game’ design work that we are usually doing about this time but loads of people seem to be rediscovering those title they already have.

What have been the biggest challenges you’ve had to face?

Keeping operations running on limited resources – we are running family only at the toy factory which means slower production. Fulfillment timelines and email response times are much longer as a result!

In general, what are your thoughts on any long term effects of the current climate on the pinball hobby?

It is hard to say what impacts this will have on the industry as a whole; long term our hope is that the growth the industry has seen in the last 24 months continues, but only time will tell.

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NOTE: Mezel Mods is also co-leading an initiative to produce medical face shields using a portion of our production equipment – check out more info here!!

PINBALL STREAMERS

Buffalo Pinball – Kevin Manne

In what ways have you adapted and changed your pinball streaming since the stay-at-home orders started?

In some ways things haven’t changed a ton—pinball streaming is something we can continue to do from the comfort of our homes and thankfully everyone on the team has remained healthy during all of this.

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On the other hand we have had to get creative. Our Thursday show, “Bro, do you even pinball?” is built on the concept of a bunch of us getting together to play pinball in person and we obviously haven’t been able to do that.

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Our last in-person “Bro” show was on March 14 (link: https://youtu.be/om1IIqqeX3U), but since then we’ve tried to keep the spirit of the show alive in a few different formats. We’ve done a couple shows using the multiplayer feature of Zaccaria Pinball on Steam to play the games, which has been cool because we’ve been able to have RudySoup and Skipnatty as guests on the Bro show for the first time ever (link: https://youtu.be/VZc3yNfDtGk).

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We went back to real pinball for another week where we all played Jersey Jack’s Pirates of the Caribbean. Since Nick, Skipnatty, McSirTuna and I all own the game we each took turns trying to put up the highest score we could in an hour. That was some of the most fun I’ve had streaming in a long time-—and based on the response we got, it made for pretty fun viewing, too. (link: https://youtu.be/ifLe6zRU8C4)

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Some new things we’ve started up include a new midday stream called “Lunchtime Pinball Chit-Chattin’ with Nick” where he sets his rig up on a game and goes at it for an hour each day throughout the week. So if you’re working from home and need some daytime pinball action, he’s got you covered.

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Nick and Karl DeAngelo of IEPinball also did a head-to-head vs. battle on Big Buck Hunter this past weekend as a solidarity stream and to celebrate Karl finally achieving Open Season. (link: https://youtu.be/VMLPnLjZ0L8)

Do you have plans for more streaming ideas going forward?

Of course! We’re always brainstorming new ways to keep things fresh and interesting for the viewers and while the caronavirus situation has put some restrictions in place, that has forced even more creativity.

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This week, for example, on Thursday I’m REALLY excited to show off a brand new sound mix I got for my Mustang pinball machine courtesy of PinballMIX. It has music from some of my favorite bands ever and really takes the game to the next level. It makes me smile every time I play it. It’ll be fun to show off something new like this even when there’s not much “new” happening in pinball.

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But for me personally, pinball streaming is great because it’s an escape during this whole thing and is a fun way to connect and virtually socialize when we can’t do it for real. As long as we can hang out and get away from workdays filled with Zoom meetings for a while to talk about the one thing that brings us all together (that’s pinball, for the record), that’s what it’s all about.

In general, what are your thoughts on any long term effects of the current climate on the pinball hobby?

I’m generally an optimist, but when I think about the state of the world right now and look at it through the lens of pinball, I think there are going to be some tough times ahead.

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I see arcades all over struggling to ride out the storm and can’t help but wonder what kind of ripple effect that will have. So many are having Kickstarter and GoFundMe campaigns, but how long will that keep the lights on? And even when things do start to slowly return to “normal,” how many people will want to go out and touch a bunch of machines that everyone else has been touching?

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For the home market, with so many people losing their jobs and taking pay cuts, they won’t have as much disposable income to spend on pinball. In tough times like these, entertainment and luxury items are the first things to get cut from budgets, which means fewer sales of new pinball machines and, as people try to get some extra cash together, more games will hit the second-hand market, increasing competition for the pinball dollar.

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Not to mention the financial impact of all the manufacturing currently on hold, the missed opportunities to showcase new games at the pinball shows that have been or will be shut down. These things will have a much bigger impact on the smaller pinball companies, and if fewer pinball machines come out that’ll mean fewer mods for those machines, and on and on…

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That seems to be the way it goes for pinball, though, doesn’t it? Over the years there have been countless peaks and valleys, ups and downs. Even if things slip back from the amazing run that pinball has been on for the past 10 years or so (seriously, we’ve had some of the best games ever released recently), I have confidence that the game will soldier on and eventually boom again.

IEPinball – Karl DeAngelo

In what ways have you adapted and changed your pinball streaming since the stay-at-home orders started?

My work commute is typically 4+ hour round trip each day. Since I’m now working from home, I decided to shift over those now free hours to streaming. As such, I’ve been streaming nearly daily working through wizard mode challenges on the games I own and have also been fortunate enough to borrow some games for added challenges.

Do you have plans for more streaming ideas going forward?

I plan to continue with the wizard mode challenges as games become available but also add in some more heads-up battles along with goal-specific speed runs. For heads-up battles the quality needs to improve to be where I want it to be, and I have some ideas for that. I’m also working on a some ideas for speed runs to show the current best attempt directly against the live attempt, like a ghost player. The “ghost” could also be used to allow other streamers to compete against the existing best time.

In general, what are your thoughts on any long term effects of the current climate on the pinball hobby?

This is tough as there are so many different ways the hobby goes depending on how well we handle this as a society. As a tournament player and director, I don’t see any large-scale events taking place until a vaccine is available.

COMPETITIVE PINBALL

IFPA President – Josh Sharpe

What impact do you think this will have over the rest of 2020 for competitive pinball? Will things get “back to normal”?

I think competitive pinball will find similar challenges to any other sport that involves a group of people congregating in the same place.

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Pinball competitions that are in public venues will face certain challenges related to the rules that location has to follow. Any competitions held at enthusiast shows will face the challenges of how those shows with extremely large crowds can proceed to operate safely on the other side of this.

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When the IFPA lifts our suspension on sanctioning events, I do anticipate many of the weekly/monthly tournaments and leagues that we sanction to jump right back into playing. Much of this is going to fall on how comfortable the organizer is to resume play, as well as the players within that community who are all facing similar decisions of how comfortable they are stepping back into any sort of “normal” behavior.

In general, what are your thoughts on any long term effects of the current climate on the pinball hobby and competitive pinball?

At this point I think it’s still too early to tell when things will get back to normal. When I see professional sports canceling Major Championships at the expense of billions of dollars to be earned, I think it’s a pretty strong statement about the importance of a healthy society trumping the importance of seeing any championship sporting events during this period, including pinball.

LOCATION PINBALL

The Silverball Saloon – Bruce Nightingale

What have been the biggest difficulties you are facing with the stay-at-home orders?

The biggest factors of the stay home order is to keep safe for my family. Plus trying to keep my business cost down since we have been closed by the virus arcade bar restaurant (The Silverball Saloon). I have gotten a full time job to keep my house in order.

What impact do you think this will have over the rest of 2020 for location pinball? Will things get “back to normal”?

Location pinball is going to be hurting for a long time.

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Dedicated players will still play, but getting the new player out will be very hard. Back to normal is the new hope. I don't see it happening for a long time. Maybe never unless a cure is truly found.

In general, what are your thoughts on any long term effects of the current climate on the pinball hobby?

Long term effects will be business failing at a huge rate. Thinking 25 percent in the next 6 months. 40 percent after 9 months. For all operators and pinball based companies it will be a domino effect. No money coming in will make disposable income dry up. So will new and used pinball sales. The pinball market will crash.